Napravnik can ride Power Broker where Krone never reached

The first race at Pimlico on June 9, 2005 was non-descript in every way, save the presence of a 17-year-old named Anna Rosie Napravnik, who went by A.R. Napravnik so people wouldn't know she was a girl.

Trainer Dickie Small hoisted her into the saddle on a $7,500 claimer named Ringofdiamonds, giving his exercise rider her first mount on the only cheap horse in his barn.

They call her Rosie now, and everyone knows she's a girl, and a heck of a jockey at that. One of the nation's best, actually.

And while a lot has happened since, the Mendham native remembers "every other detail" about that day eight years ago.

"I was a bug girl, pretty much helpless at that point," she said. "I galloped her every morning and as we were walking to the paddock Luis Garcia, her regular rider, pulled me aside and said 'if you get to the lead you'll win this race going away.' So I thought 'OK, I'll go to the lead,' but I still had no idea what I was doing. And going out of the one hole and getting to the lead at Pimlico in a mile-and-a-1/16 race isn't easy because it's a pretty short run to the first turn."

Ringofdiamonds broke well, got to the front and never looked back, winning by two lengths.

Sure sounds like a game plan for Sunday's William Hill Haskell Invitational, when Napravnik will be aboard the Bob Baffert-trained Power Broker.

Although with speedy favorites Verrazano and Oxbow outside, a Ringofdiamonds-like trip in the $1 million event seems unlikely.

"I let Rosie just run her own race," said Baffert. "She knows the horse really well. She know what he likes, doesn't like. He's been training well, so it's going to be a good class check for him."

The attention was overwhelming when she rode in all three legs of this year's Triple Crown, looking to match Hall of Famer Julie Krone, the first female to win one of the Classics when she rode Colonial Affair home first at the 1993 Belmont.

Last year she broke Krone's single-season mark for earnings by a female jockey, bankrolling more than $12 million, including becoming the first woman to win the Kentucky Oaks in the 138-year history of the prestigious event.

And now she arrives at the track where Krone first made a name for herself, trying to annex the Grade I fixture her predecessor never won.

The two met for the first time at the Eclipse Awards, when Napravnik was nominated as an apprentice. They've spoken several times since, including earlier this year when Krone reaching out to Napravnik as she was heading to Santa Anita in March for the Grade I Santa Margarita, which she won aboard Joyful Victory.

"I had five or six mounts that day, and one of them was down the hill," Napravnik said, referring to Santa Anita's downhill turf course which cross the main track onto the main turf course. "(Krone) said, 'I want you to win your first race down the hill so bad I can't even tell you,' so she was giving me some advice about that particular course."

When the Triple Crown arrived, Napravnik looked like she had a chance to win both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness at the quarter pole with Mylute flying into the lane, eventually finishing fifth and third, respectively.

"Riding in the Preakness for the first time was extremely significant for me personally," she said. "That's where I got my start and I have a lot of friends there, so to run third there was huge. Really exciting."

With five wins already early in the Saratoga meet, her attention will turn to Power Broker Sunday, with the two riding a two-race winning streak, including the Easy Goer on the Belmont Stakes undercard, since Baffert gave her the mount.

"We'll have to work out a trip where we might lay a bit off the speed, but he doesn't have a problem rating off the pace," she added. "He's improving at a very good time, I'm glad he's running because I really like him."

Napravnik doesn't ride many $7,500 claimers anymore. But if she does become the first female to win the Haskell, it will rank right up there along with her win aboard Ringofdiamonds.

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Napravnik can ride Power Broker where Krone never reached

The first race at Pimlico on June 9, 2005 was non-descript in every way, save the presence of a 17-year-old named Anna Rosie Napravnik, who went by A.R. Napravnik so people wouldn't know she was a

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